Pressure Instability of Magnetic Susceptibility of Pyrrhotite Bearing Rocks from the KTB Borehole

Experimental results of pressure-induced changes in mean magnetic susceptibility of rock samples from the main KTB borehole are reported. It was found that susceptibility values of rocks from depths between 5200 and 7000 m show unstable behaviour upon application of pressure, showing an increase in susceptibility of between 20 and 120%. This unstable behaviour was only detected in samples from the above mentioned depth interval, which contain both ferrimagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of pyrrhotite. On the basis of thermomagnetic analysis, magnetic field treatment, optical microscopy and domain observations of undeformed and deformed samples, reasons for this instability are discussed and interpreted in relation to redistribution of internal stresses within the ferrimagnetic phase, resulting in changes in domain wall mobility.